I'm looking for recommendations on how to turn On/Off my Christmas lights. I created a virtual switch called "Christmas Season". So, when this vSwitch is on, at x time I want my Christmas light group to turn On and Off at specific times. It's not clear to me if I should set this up in Simple Rules or Rules Machine. Looking for guideance.
You might also want to look at the Schedule Manager app:
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@John_Land ... thanks for the suggestion. I just fumbled my way through Simple Rule and think I got it setup with 2 rules which only run if the vSwitch is On. If this doesn't work, I'll give the app a try.
I've accomplished this with Basic Rules, Echo Speaks, RM and webcore. I have not tried Schedule Manager. Lots of options here. I use Basic Rules and webcore. I do it this way so that I will always have a set, timed option. But I can always use Alexa to turn them on and off at will. Honestly, I could just use webcore for all of it. But that is probably more than you want to take on.
Example:
Thanks, but the Simple Run you created is missing a critical component. The rule should not run unless the Christmas Season (vSwitch) is on. I figured out how to add this to a Simple Run and all is good now.
Glad you got it working. I don't need the VS like that for my setup, but easy to add.
I find it very simple to just disable my Christmas season rules when the season is over and reenable them next year.
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Take a look at the Holiday Lighting app. Great for Xmas and other seasonal uses. Set it once and forget.
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That's what I do.
